European captain Jose Maria Olazabal on Monday named England’s Ian Poulter and Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts as his two wildcard picks for next month’s Ryder Cup golf defence against the United States at Medinah in Illinois.
Poulter, 32, will compete in his fourth Ryder Cup since making his debut at Oakland Hills in 2004 while the 29-year-old Colsaerts will be the only debutant in Olazabal’s team.
It is Poulter’s second wildcard after he received a similar pick in 2008, while Colsaerts is the first Belgian in the 85-year history of the event.
“Ian’s had a great Ryder Cup record,” said Olazabal. “He was playing well – he had some issues early in the season.
“He got ill and he couldn’t play as much as he could, but his attitude and his spirit in the Ryder Cup team has always been great. He’s one of those players that likes to be in that situation.
“I think he gets the best out of him playing the Ryder Cup. The two times I had the opportunity to share a few moments with him at Valhalla and Celtic Manor, you didn’t need to motivate him.”
Olazabal singled out Colsaerts for his determination and effort after the Belgian had finished two places outside of automatic qualification for the European team.
But after sharing seventh in this month’s PGA Tour Wyndham Championship and then making the effort to return to Europe for last week’s Johnnie Walker Championship, where he shared 19th place, Olazabal afforded him a pick.
“Nicolas, obviously he’s a rookie. If you look at the team, he’s going to be the only rookie on the team,” the Spaniard said.
“We do have an experienced team. His matchplay record is very good. He finished runner up last year at the World Match Play. He won this year at the World Match Play.”
Olazabal indicated he had also phoned all those immediately behind Colsaerts on the qualifying table including the 19th-placed Padraig Harrington of Ireland, Paul Casey, Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson.
Harrington’s non-selection ends a run of six straight Ryder Cup caps for the triple major-winning Irishman.
US captain Davis Love will announce his four wildcard picks on September 4 in New York.
European team:
Rory McIlroy (NIR), Justin Rose (ENG), Paul Lawrie (SCO), Graeme McDowell (NIR), Francesco Molinari (ITA), Luke Donald (ENG), Lee Westwood (ENG), Sergio Garcia (ESP), Peter Hanson (SWE), Martin Kaymer (GER), Ian Poulter (ENG), Nicolas Colsaerts (BEL)
